Wildcats Sending Message
WILDCATS SENDING MESSAGE
Dekaney made great strides last season, losing to eventual State Champion Cy Fair in the playoffs. They were young, energetic and hungry, so last season was chalked up as a learning experience. This season, they’re doing the teaching and showing that you can’t count them out, at least that was thought a couple of weeks ago. First they lost starter Brianna Taylor, one of the top sophomores in the city, to a knee injury in the championship game of the Taco Bell Classic and then another starter, Shunta Nevitt goes out with a hamstring injury. Taylor is out for the season, Nevitt should be back in a week or so and, by the way, they knocked off former number one Atascocita in that Taco Bell Championship. Beating “The Taz” will go a long way for Dekaney since they hadn’t beaten a ranked team yet, losing to North Shore, Katy Taylor, Clear Springs and Cy Falls, however after watching them go against Klein Forest, this team is capable of causing some problem in the playoffs.
They jumped out early on Klein Forest, who were playing without post Keylantra Taylor, and were up 12-3 before Ekiya Gray caught fire for the Eagles and closed the quarter with her team down 14-9. More Gray in the second quarter but Amber Driver and Kayla Nevitt took control on offense for the Wildcats. I constantly talk about the youth of Klein Forest; well Dekaney has some young stars ready to explode as well. Sophomore Driver is smooth in transition and Nevitt, younger sister of Shunta is only a freshman, but doesn’t realize she is a freshman and will be one of the top players in her class from the area. Gray teamed up with Regina Scott, both are freshmen as well, and the Eagles closed the gap as the half ended 24-22, Gray led the Eagles with 10 while Driver was high scorer for the Wildcats with 8. KF took the lead at the start of the third quarter on a three pointer by Ebony Parker, another freshman, however Dekaney went to work and got scoring from everywhere, more Nevitt and Driver, plus Madeline Ali and Alexis Durley, one of the top juniors in the area. Dekaney outscored Klein Forest 19-6 in the third quarter; in fact the Eagles scored only 2 points the last six minutes. Even though they cut the lead to 11 in final quarter behind some acrobatic baskets from yet another freshman, Regina Scott, Dekaney just had too much coming from too many places. Driver paced the Wildcats scorers with 16, followed by Durley’s 14 and Nevitt added 13. For the Eagles, Gray led all scorers with 18 and Scott chipped in 10.